"I spit a few bars for him" - Rick Ross reveals almost sealing deal with Shaquille O'Neal after his T.W.IsM. Records dropped
Recently, in an interview with Complex, rapper Rick Ross revealed that he came close to joining Shaquille O'Neal's recording label, "T.W.IsM. Records." Ross relayed how the supposed signing went:
“Many years ago I met with Shaq when he was launching his T.W.IsM. Records. We met in Atlanta somewhere. We met in a restaurant. Then we went in the back, in the kitchen. I spit a few bars for him. He gave me his contact, [and] we stayed in touch for a little while. But, you know how that go.”
Ross was interviewed during his promotional tour with Meek Mill for the song "Shaq & Kobe."
Ross and Mill recently dropped a remix of "Shaq & Kobe" with Shaquille O'Neal and NBA superstar Damian Lillard, a rapper under the alias "Dame D.O.L.L.A.," lending additional voices to the new version.
What is T.W.IsM. Records, Shaquille O'Neal's defunct recording label?
There are contrasting stories on when Shaquille O'Neal and partner Leonard Armato founded T.W.IsM. Records.
On A&M Records, a tribute website to the defunct recording company A&M Records, it said that O'Neal and Armato founded the company in 1993, fresh from Shaq's rookie NBA season, seemingly as an independent recording label.
On the other hand, Rate Your Music claimed that T.W.IsM. Records was founded in 1996, just when O'Neal was about to play for the Los Angeles Lakers as a subsidiary of Interscope Records. T.W.IsM. stands for "The World Is Mine."
In 1998, after two years with Interscope -- with probably three more years before that as an indie company -- O'Neal and Armato forged a three-year agreement with A&M Records to have T.W.IsM as a joint venture, and in effect, T.W.IsM moved its operations to A&M's headquarters.
As fate would have it, in 1999, A&M merged with Interscope along with Geffen Records to form the Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and along with the merge, T.W.IsM was back under Interscope's fold. However, in 2001, the company closed operations.
T.W.IsM Records released three albums, two from O'Neal entitled "You Can't Stop the Reign" and "Respect" and another from an American trio called S.H.E. entitled "3's A Charm."